Too often this season, one phase of the game, whether it is pitching, offense or defense, has spoiled a good performance from the other two.
That was not the case on Wednesday as the Bobcats (7-24, 3-6 Mid-American Conference) defeated Eastern Kentucky 10-3 at Bob Wren Stadium while executing every facet of the game and not giving away free outs.
Sticking with the strategy the Bobcats have adopted for the majority of their midweek games, coach Rob Smith went to the bullpen early and often. Senior Brett Barber (1-3) started, but was pulled after 1.1 innings despite striking out two batters in his first inning of work.
Smith plugged in Ryan Ferrell, Nick Plys, Brad Przebieda, Marck Paliotto and Logan Cozart to complete the Ohio’s first victory against a non-conference opponent since a 12-3 win against Oakland on March 9.
“We played a good game tonight and certainly the best midweek game we’ve played,” Smith said. “We played with good energy, we played hard and we put all three phases of the game together.”
The bullpen pitched efficiently and provided rest for the starting pitchers who will pitch extensive innings in the weekend conference series against Akron.
“We really don’t have a midweek starter, so all the 27 outs we were going to get were going to have to come from the bullpen,” Smith said. “Those guys had to come out and throw strikes and they did a good job of that and put us in a position to win the game.”
Ohio opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, scoring two runs off of a sacrifice fly from outfielder Tyler Wells and a single from shortstop Dan Schmidt that drove in designated hitter J.R. Reynolds.
The game was blown open in the third, as the Bobcats tacked on five runs by way of their offense and erratic pitching on the part of the Colonels (9-20, 5-7 Ohio Valley Conference).
Eastern Kentucky pitchers Eric Nerl, Austin Rexroat and Nick Bozman hit a batter, walked a batter and threw two wild pitches, which paired with runs batted in by Wells, Cody Gaertner, Schmidt and Ben Otto, created a big inning for Ohio.
The Colonels attempted to break back into the game with a three-run fourth inning, but the Bobcats countered in the sixth with a two-run single by Gaertner, who recorded three RBI in the contest.
Gaertner, who bats left-handed, continued to swing a hot bat, as he went 2-4 against the Colonels and has gone 12 for 28 in his last six games.
“I’ve kind of been loosening up,” Gaertner said. “Early on this season, I was focusing on the left-center gap. Lately, I’ve been just hitting where the ball is pitched.”
ch203310@ohiou.edu.
